A Georgia man was found to have a loaded handgun in his carry-on bag on Thursday at University Park Airport, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
A TSA officer spotted the a .40 caliber handgun loaded with 12 bullets in the checkpoint X-ray machine.
Penn State police responded and confiscated the firearm. The man told police he had previously driven from Georgia to Pennsylvania for his job and had brought the gun with him.
Penn State police did not file charges, a spokesperson said. According to the TSA, the man could still face civil penalties.
University Park Airport Authority Executive Director James Meyer said he was not involved with the incident, but that in similar cases where no charges are filed, the traveler is usually found to have left the gun in a bag by mistake.
This was the first firearm caught at University Park Airport this year, according to the TSA. Meyer said that though it does not happen often at University Park Airport, it is in general not unusual for security to spot a gun at checkpoints.
‘This is an occurrence that happens at every airport… and happens almost everyday, either guns or loose bullets’ Meyer said.
Nationally, 4,432 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints last year — an average of 12.1 per day, according to the TSA.
